Blue Morpho catching some rays

[Randy Stout]

Another one from the Meijer's butterfly garden, Grand Rapids Michigan.
It is often dark and dreary in Michigan in March, and pictures at this venue require flash as main light. I was able to visit on a brighter day, and only needed fill flash to even out the shadows on this image.

Background is a bit busy, but I think preferable to a pure black one?

Nikon D700 Sigma 180 macro at f/11 1/160s SB800 with lightsphere mounted on wimberley AM-4 Macro bracket, off to left of lens front. Handheld. No tripods or support allowed, so always a challenge.

Post: PS CS4 curves, some smoothing in BG, min sharpening.

Advice from the macro crew always appreciated!!

Randy

[Julie Kenward]

Nicely done, Randy! I've tried to get a decent image of a blue morpho at our local butterfly festival and they hide at the top of the canopy - not real conducive to a good HA! This is beautiful! Nice and sharp from antenna to the wingspan. I agree about the BG - it's not that busy and it does give a good sense of environment.

If you want to get REALLY picky you might consider doing a distortion correction so the top edge of the wings were not further forward in the frame than the bottom - could just be my imagination but it feels like he's leaning a bit towards the focal plane instead of perpendicular to it. ???

[Julie Brown]

Randy, I think this is a very nice image. Jules covered the techs. Everything seems to be in focus and well-exposed. Good job with the flash. Thanks for explaining how you did that.:)

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Randy, I don't mind that the BG isn't black. I think it would make a boring image. Might run a little NR on the BG though. Wonderful job on flash use, exposure and sharpness.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Randy, great sharpness on the B-fly, great contrast between the subject and dark BG.

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Randy, I think this is a wonderful shot. what an interesting subject with great wing pattern. Everything looks spot on to me and I like the background. Nice image!

[Ken Childs]

Randy, I'd clone out the red spot at the top and as Jerry said, some NR on the BG is in order but overall this is a very nice shot.

[Randy Stout]

Thanks everyone for the input.

I thought about removing the red/orange spot at the top, but left it because of its match to the colors in the wings. Perhaps too isolated to really help match the subject and background.

Cheers

Randy

[Reza Gorji]

I think this is a stunning image. Really nice DOF, sharpness and light. I like the background the way it is.

[Vida van der Walt]

Pin sharp with lovely detail and the dark bg works great. Great image Randy.:)

[Charles Wesley]

Randy,

Good work here. I like the color, detail and tonality on this one. Agree with Ken about reducing the red area above the BF. It will really make it snap.
Thanks for sharing...
____________________
Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL